ABSTRACT
The reader can see from the chapters in this book that there has been much work exploring interdisciplinary science and language arts instruction at the elementary level. It is clear from Akerson and Young’s as well as Richards’ chapter that there are many different definitions of interdisciplinary instruction. Indeed, the authors of these two chapters hold different viewpoints of the definitions themselves, with Akerson and Young ascribing to the view that interdisciplinary instruction leaves the subjects themselves intact while making clear connections between the disciplines, and Richards viewing the idea through the lens that combining two or more subjects is considered interdisciplinary, through the use of multiple terms like multidisciplinary teaching, transdisciplinary teaching, themed units, nested integration, webbed curricula, cross-curricular or integrated curricula teaching approaches. Despite the disagreement on an exact definition or terminology for interdisciplinary instruction, all authors in this 298book agree that interdisciplinary instruction includes instruction in some combination of two or more subjects simultaneously.
